Opinion

For countless centuries, the people of the Gila River Indian Community — the “River People” of Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh ancestry — farmed alongside the central Arizona riverbanks that give our community its name. Our farming heritage taught my people all about the value of diversification and persistence, two key elements that have guided the renaissance of our community’s economy.

Government is a word, strange and overused, for the things we decide to do together. And if there is one lesson that the recent 16-day government shutdown taught us, it is this: there are a lot of things we Americans have decided to do, together, and people were angry when these things were taken away.

Mayors Bob Barrett of Peoria, Adolfo Gamez of Tolleson and Sharon Wolcott of Surprise As mayors of our respective cities we work every day to help create the best possible environment for our citizens to succeed. We also recognize that as neighbors there are unique opportunities in which our cities can work together for the benefit of the entire West Valley.

Signals from the Environmental Protection Agency that the agency is taking a positive view of Salt River Project’s and other stakeholders’ proposal to keep the Navajo Generating Station near Page operating is good news for Arizona utility ratepayers.

As mayors of our respective cities, we have pledged to protect the best interests of our communities and believe that the recent passage of H.R. 1410, the Keeping the Promise Act, by the U.S. House of Representatives, is a significant step in the right direction. We urge our Arizona senators to take a leadership role on this issue as it makes its way to the Senate.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral argument in McCutcheon vs. FEC this week, may overturn the aggregate contribution caps that have governed federal elections since 1974. If so, candidates should prepare now for the political landscape that will exist come June.

Election season is back and, along with it, the opportunity to encourage candidates and voters to make education a top priority. Vote 4 Education is Expect More Arizona’s annual initiative that asks Arizonans to make education a priority when they vote. The non-partisan, statewide campaign is a part of Expect More Arizona’s advocacy efforts to provide world-class education in Arizona.

Quite a controversy was sparked last month when a photograph appeared of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) considering his online poker strategy in the midst of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the conflict in Syria. Critics pointed out that he ought to have been paying more attention to the proceedings, but McCain’s own response, posted to twitter, was to defuse the brewing scandal and remark, ‘Worst of all I lost.’

As the nation settles into the second week of the federal shutdown, the associated closure of nearly 400 national parks and monuments across the country is turning away more than 700,000 visitors each day.